Third Storm of the Season

Yesterday Christina was destined to be a small Category 1 hurricane when over night it became a Category 4.  It's pretty far from land so don't expect much but overcast.  Tuesday night was a total surprise with people measuring between 3 and 6 inches of rain in the early morning.  Power was out from 4-5am until 9 and again out from noon until 5pm. No school yesterday so I haven't been in Melaque to check water damage.

Hurricane Cristina walled off the dry air surrounding it and put on an impressive round of rapid intensification overnight, topping out as powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds and a central pressure estimated at 935 mb at 11 am EDT Thursday. Cristina is the second hurricane this year to reach major hurricane strength in the Eastern Pacific, setting a record for the earliest date of formation for the season's second major hurricane. The previous record was a full thirteen days later in the season: June 25, 2010, when Hurricane Darby reached Category 3 strength. The other major hurricane this year in the Eastern Pacific was Hurricane Amanda, which peaked as a top-end Category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds at 15 UTC (10 am EST) May 25, becoming the strongest May hurricane ever recorded in the Eastern Pacific. 

Jeff Masters Wunderground Blog